Ivalice Returning: Final Fantasy XII
by MrsGrizzley
Summary: A sequel to A Traveler in a Strange World, this tale happens two years after the events of the game, when new discoveries bring memories into question and a new mystery unfolds. Progress halted. Story was not working out properly.
1. Chapter 1

Ivalice Returning: Final Fantasy XII

By Maracae Grizzley

Fanfiction 2008

Vaan glanced at the wreckage of the _Bahamut_ as he flew past it into Rabanastre. "Has it really been two years?" He didn't have to look at the expression on his partner's face to know that she was remembering the adventures they'd had two years before, just as he was.

"Yeah, hard to believe Ashe has only been Queen for a year." Penelo smiled. "I heard that Migelo is beside himself planning a fete." She sighed. "I wonder if we'll get to see her."

"I don't know. Larsa is coming to visit for the celebration." A note of seriousness touched both faces. Strange stories had started to circulate about their old friend.

"I wonder how Basch is doing as a Judge." Penelo had been sending letters to Larsa, as a way of keeping contact with him and with Basch, but the former Knight had not responded personally.

Vaan smiled at her, understanding her concern. "We'll just have to find out."

They didn't talk about the stories they'd heard. It was simply too frightening a thought to give voice to.

--

Dr. Cidolphus Demen Bunansa sighed to himself as he looked up from a piece of magicite. He removed his spectacles and absently rubbed his eyes. He was so tired, but sleep brought no respite.

He should be dead.

Ffamran and his companions, the Lady Ashe included, had spared no strength in their attack on him in the uppermost chamber of the Lighthouse at Ridorana. He should have died of his wounds, which had been grievous. Instead he lived, the maddening obsession over nethicite broken and his soul calmed. He simply did not know how such a miracle was possible.

His dreams were haunted by images of a golden-eyed angel, always pulling him back from danger, always vanishing before he could see her clearly.

He hoped he wasn't going mad again.

Rumors were circulating that the young Emperor, Lord Larsa, teetered on the edge of madness, obsessed with a sister who did not exist. A sister with golden eyes.

Cid knew that the answers he sought were with Lord Larsa and his dream-sister, and the stone that he found, but Cid did not want to return to Archadia. Too many memories there, too much old pain. He liked his new home in the sky pirate refuge. He could look out at the ocean – the endless, eternal sea – and sometimes he could understand why his Ffamran had become the sky pirate Balthier.

If he weren't so old he might consider taking up the trade. The lure of adventure, though, had long since paled for him. He liked the quiet, now, and the sound of the ocean from outside his window. He wished Fran were with him to enjoy it as well, but she was at the side of their son, helping him, aiding him.

After two years they had still not reconciled.

He needed to see to that, since he had been miraculously spared the death he deserved. Fran had, after all, left the Wood and her sisters, exiling herself from all she knew and loved, to find and to love him. She deserved so much more than he had given her. Perhaps he would be able to see them at the upcoming celebration of the first year of Lady Ashe's rule of the newly restored Dalmasca.

Zecht Reddas, who led the pirate enclave at Balfonheim, had invited him along as he was going to see the young Queen who helped remind him of why he had sworn service as a Judge Magister of the Empire, and why he had left that service because of nethicite's power and what it had done to Nabradia.

Doctor Cid knew that he had waited long enough. It was time to set right what he had put wrong.

--

Marquis Halim Ondore IV of Bhujerba sat in the privacy of his office and struggled to complete his memoirs of the past conflicts. It was to be his gift to the young Queen Ashe, a history written not by the winners but in honesty by one who was there and in unflinching accuracy. It was also to be a gift to a man who had done nothing but his duty and had borne unbearable shame for too long.

The time for secrets was at an end and Ondore intended to fully exonerate Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg at long last.

It should have been a simple endeavor – set aside his own ego and record the tragedies and triumphs of the very human men and women involved. Not the easiest of tasks but still, it should have been simple and straightforward. Until he started noting gaps in the memories of the eyewitnesses, most notably the survival of Doctor Cid. No one knew how the Sun-Cryst was destroyed, either. There was no doubt that it was, in fact, destroyed. The explosion atop Ridorana was seen for miles. If anyone had been wielding the sword that shattered the source of nethicite they would have been caught in the explosion and been killed.

But everyone who went to Ridorana returned, even Reddas the sky pirate, who was also the former Judge Magister Zecht.

If it had stayed as memory lapses, though, Ondore could still persevere. Matters, though, had just become infinitely more complicated. He had been looking through some of the papers of the late Emperor Gramis and had run across a box of letters – ones hidden by the hand of the old Emperor himself apparently. He was quite certain that Lord Larsa was unaware that they existed – outside his dreams of course.

… _For the Senate, tell them what you will, though I would rather that you not tell them that I am dead. I do not intend to stay away forever, and I sincerely wish to return one day. For the Judges, instruct them that unless I make myself known to them, they are to ignore me. For Vayne, I wish him told nothing, if possible. I do not trust him in the least._

_I fear one day that I may have no choice but to destroy him to protect Larsa. He seems too much like my Nii-sama for my comfort. I do not wish the guilt that burdens me on my Nii-chan._

_Thank you so much for all your generosity towards a foundling such as me. You cannot know how much it means to me. Please forgive me, and know that I still hold to my oath. This I do to protect Larsa, who should one day be Emperor after you._

_As much as I regret the necessity, I have spoken with The Mother, and she assures me that Larsa and I will meet again one day, but she offers few assurances beyond that. . . _

_Your dutiful Daughter, Ivalice Goldeneyes Solidor_

Reluctantly Ondore decided that he had to consult with Larsa and the others who would have known this Imperial Daughter no one could remember.

--

Once the stone wreck had been a chamber at the top of a tower and it had housed the giant crystal from which the Shards, Dawn, Dusk, and Midlight, had been cut by the Dynast-King. Now it was a burned-out, twisted ruin.

The silence of the chamber was disturbed by the sounds of footsteps as two sky pirates entered the desolation and looked around. "I wondered why we never came back here," Balthier mused, "now I know. What does Ondore think we will find here?"

Fran shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I do not know. What did he say?"

"Only that someone must have wielded that sword to destroy the Sun-Cryst. He asked me to look for something I didn't remember." Balthier looked around. "That is where the stone was." He pointed to a spot that was now a blown out crater. Then he pointed to the blasted remains of an archway. "That was where Gabranth entered to challenge us. We fought him. My . . . my father entered then." Even after two years, it still hurt to talk about Dr. Cid as his father.

Fran took up the narrative. "Lady Ashe defied him. We fought. The rogue Occuria was banished. We fled, Reddas in the rear."

"Could Reddas have destroyed the stone?"

"I do not believe he would have escaped with us if he had." Fran frowned slightly. "Someone healed Cid. I – I remember seeing his eyes, but I do not remember who did so."

Balthier shrugged. "Maybe we threw the blade."

"The stone fought us, fought the blade. A throw would not have worked."

Balthier noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "No one's been sightseeing here since we came here last, right?"

"What do you see?"

He knelt in a spot and cleared away some of the debris to reveal a large stain burned black into the stone.

Fran touched the stain with a fingertip. "Blood. Sealed by the explosion. Someone bled here, while we were here."

Balthier's expression solidified. "We need to fly back to Bhujerba, and fast. This is what Ondore was looking for. I don't remember any of us being cut, not like this."

Fran nodded.

--

A man in dark plate mail walked through the hallways of the Imperial Palace in Archades. For duty and responsibility he had surrendered his honor to live with the shame of a crime he did not commit and then he surrendered his very name and identity to guard the young Emperor Larsa in his brother's place.

But all was not well with Lord Larsa.

Two years before, upon their return to Archades following the destruction of the _Bahamut_, Larsa had woken one morning with a fantastic tale of a sister no one knew, a sister he dreamed about nightly. It might have come to naught if he had not also found a strangely magical stone and if his guardian had not shared those dreams.

And the man who was once Basch fon Ronsenburg dreamed of her as often as Larsa did.

Another man in armor stopped him in the hall. "Judge Gabranth, I must speak with you."

Basch looked away. "I know what you wish to say, Judge Zargabaath, but it will do no good. I cannot dissuade him."

"You must do something. This obsession will destroy him and the Empire with him."

"I cannot."

"The stone is unholy. It holds his mind captive to this hallucination of a sister. The Empire lost his brothers to obsessions and the hunger for stones of power. We cannot afford to lose him, too. He is the last of House Solidor."

"I know this, Judge Zargabaath."

"Then please, speak with him."

Basch nodded. "I will speak with him, however little good it will do."

"Thank you." Zargabaath then took his leave of the other Judge. In truth, it was not only his Emperor he was worried about. He and Gabranth had never been the closest of friends, distant acquaintances actually, but ever since he had returned from the war that killed Lord Vayne, Gabranth had been different. So different in fact, that if Zargabaath had not known better he would have sworn that he was an entirely different man.

Basch continued on his way, fighting the aching in his chest that was in constant companion. He found Lord Larsa in the garden, sitting on a stone bench surrounded by daylight, a simple grey stone, flat and smooth and about the size of his palm, sitting in his open hand. The boy did not look up at his approach.

"They think I am mad."

Basch sighed. "They are worried, my Lord. No one remembers this sister you have dreamed of."

Now he looked up. "You remember her, don't you? You have dreamed of her, too."

Basch knelt next to Larsa, bowing his head. "I have dreamed of her." The admission hurt, not because he wished not to have dreamed but because he wished that he had not woken from it. "She was a dream." His mind said she had never been. His heart, though, cramped in pain from missing her and the fear of where she would be if she were real.

"She loved you."

Basch nodded. "I loved her."

"I gave her to you, to be your wife. You were to be married as we celebrated the end of the conflict my brother sought to create. I wished for you to give her sons and daughters. She carried your child." He clenched his hand around the stone. "I do not remember her, and yet I do. My mind says that she was not; the dreams say that she was; and the stone. . ." he looked down, "the stone she gave me shows me things that frighten me."

Basch put his hand over the boy's. "Then set the stone aside." He was suddenly afraid, both for the young Emperor and for the dream-maiden he could not remember with his waking mind.

Larsa did not hear him. "What if she is caught like we are? Remembering in dreams the love she had for us both and waking to find herself alone?"

Basch shuddered at the thought. "I would not wish that on anyone, much less her, if she were real." He sighed, "But you cannot keep tormenting yourself with these thoughts. They do you no good, and the Empire needs you."

Larsa met Basch's eyes. "The stone has power, I can feel it. Maybe . . . maybe we can figure out how to use it so we can reach her, bring her back to us. I need my sister, Judge." He paused, his eyes terribly vulnerable. "I need my sister so I am not alone anymore, Basch."

Basch prayed for forgiveness. That the boy-Emperor called him by name cut through his defenses and he was helpless before the plea, and the desperate lonliness behind it. "Please," he begged, "remember your brothers, how they were lost."

Larsa nodded slowly and opened his fingers from around the stone. "Not me, then. Will you . . . will you hononr me by searching the stone for a way to retrieve my sister, your affianced bride? I will trust the stone in no other hands but yours."

Basch nodded and held out a hand to accept the stone from Larsa. "As you will."

In Basch's hand the stone vibrated slightly in a silent humming. In truth, it was more powerful than either of them imagined.

--

Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca, Queen of Dalmasca, smiled and hurried to meet her visitor. "Uncle Halim!"

Marquis Ondore smiled back. "It is good to see you again, Lady Ashe. I trust you have been well?"

"As well as can be expected, Uncle. Your letter said that you wished to speak with me about your memoirs. Is there a problem?" She, as much as he, wished to see her former guardian exonerated.

"More accurately a complication, Lady Ashe. Would it be possible to gather the whole of your former companions together so that we may speak in private?"

Ashe blinked twice and then nodded. "Everyone has plans to be here for Migelo's fete. I shall arrange it."

"My thanks. This is a matter of utmost importance and discretion."

* * *

I promised a sequel, of sorts, so here it begins. I don't know how quickly I will be able to add to the tale, since I've got a whole alternate version of these worlds in the works as well as all my other stories and the original tales that are crowding my head. However, I felt it would be best to go ahead and begin placing this in the open for response and all that.

I have some of the tale hand-written, but not all of it, so typing and composing might go a bit slowly, but I am open to suggestions, if anyone has them.

Thank you for your time.

Mrs. Grizzley


	2. Chapter 2

Ivalice Returning: Final Fantasy XII

By Maracae Grizzley

Chapter Two

She didn't know how many years it had taken her, but after the whole nightmarish struggle she was finally free. She didn't know who she hated more, Wolf Eyes for trapping her in that God-forsaken deathtrap or the Mother for allowing her to dream of freedom and then wake again alone.

She supposed that she should be grateful for the dream, but she didn't want to be. It was after she had woken from the dream that she had noticed that the seals on her powers were much weaker, so weak that her abilities could leak through and negate some of the age sapping effects of the cavern. She had even managed to gain back some of the time she had lost. She was almost eighteen again, physically, and she had managed to break the last seal.

She teleported herself out of the cavern with a sob of grief. As glad as she was to be free, she hated that she was alone again.

She needed to heal. She needed familiar ground where she could grieve with support. A touch of something from the dream came back to her mind, a promise. She sighed. It was as good a place as any to go. At least she knew that her brother there wouldn't betray her, no matter her fears.

She sent out a thought, touching the mind of a sister she'd seen in the dream. _Hey, Ree. I'll be alright. Long story, don't come looking for me. I'll show up when I'm ready._ She felt, more than heard, the responding affirmation with a touch of concern. _I just . . . I need to be alone for a while._

--

Mirari frowned. "What in the High One's name is wrong with Mel?"

At the other side of the room another friend of hers, Lyonesse, looked up from some needlework. She was starting to round in pregnancy. "What is it, Ree?"

"I just heard from Amelie. She's supposed to be overjoyed. She found herself a Knight in Shining Armor who adored her and last I heard they were going to have a baby. Something's not right. Something is terribly wrong with her."

Lys frowned for a moment. She had something of a seer's gift, uncontrolled and as unreliably accurate as the voice of the Mother. Tears started up in her eyes. "Her child may be lost and she thinks the love never was."

Mirari turned pale. "I'll get Mother. We'll have her back here before you miss me." She started to turn away.

"No!" Lys's voice was slightly panicked. "Matters already gather to resolve themselves. Even now memories filter past blocks placed in violence and one lost and alone approaches."

Mirari trembled in the effort of fighting her need to run to a sister in grief. "You had better be right, Lys. I swear, if I even thing that this isn't correcting itself I'm picking her up and dragging her back to him."

Lys smiled. "I have my Huntsman, do I not?"

Ree slowly nodded. She had a point.

--

The patrolman sighed to himself. Life in Smallville, Kansas could be either very boring or very exciting, and he preferred boring. Between the Kent girl vanishing, though, and the Kent boy running off to Vegas with that freak girl, and all the other things going on, matters were rarely boring for long.

Case in point, all he wanted was a quiet route tonight and here showed up a teenage girl wearing some spandex number like a superhero stumbling down the street. She was probably drunk, or high. The things these kids did these days. He stopped the car and stepped out. "Do you need some help, young lady?"

She wavered on her feet slightly and looked up at him. "Where . . . where am I?"

The officer blinked several times. "Mara Kent? Is that you?" She sobbed and nodded. "It's all right, Ms. Kent. You're going to be alright." He helped her into the vehicle and then got back in on the other side, reaching for his radio. "Dispatch, this is Officer Collins, I found Mara Kent. Inform her parents and have them meet us at the hospital."

--

Martha Kent put the phone back in its cradle with a stunned distraction that had both her husband and her son staring at her. "Martha?" Jonathon started to step towards her and she looked up at him.

"That was the police. They found Mara and they're taking her to the hospital. They want us to meet them there."

Clark blinked in surprise. "Why wouldn't she just teleport over here herself? That friend of hers, Mirari, said that she was alright."

Martha shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know why the police wouldn't just bring her home unless something . . ." Her voice faltered and Jonathon wrapped his arms around her.

"It's going to be alright. Let's just get there and find out what's going on."

--

At least she had a name again, Mara thought to herself as the officer drove her to the Smallville hospital. Even with the world spinning around her, a name gave her something to hold on to. "Call me Mara," she murmured, "for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me."

The officer frowned, thinking that she was probably OD'd on something. "Stay with me, Mara. The doctors'll fix you up right quick and your parents'll be there for you. Don't you worry any."

The hospital was a blur of voices and questions, some of which sounded absurd to her grief-ravaged ears. She didn't have her cycles in the cavern and the only physical relationship she'd had in centuries was lost to a dream. She let the grief overwhelm her into numbness. She'd held it at bay for years it seemed, but now she could relax. Her Nii-dono would be here soon and he would protect her.

She felt, more than heard, the door open to the room where she had been left. She heard the faint sound of song whispering in her ears carrying the Superman theme behind it. She turned with a sob. "Nii-dono!"

Clark was there with his arms around her. He was strong and warm and he was real. In her grief for a dream, she needed his reality. In a strange way they'd always been more like twins than anything else. Especially in the years since he found out that he was an extraterrestrial and she was something else entirely.

A doctor quietly touched Martha Kent on her arm where she stood beside Jonathon. "Mrs. Kent? Mr. Kent? If I might speak with you in private?"

--

Martha couldn't believe her ears. "You want to what?"

Jonathon felt furious, as much at the insinuation as at the situation. "Did Mara tell you that she was attacked?"

The doctor sighed. "Your daughter isn't telling us much of anything right now and I don't know that anything she could say would be very helpful. A rape kit is standard procedure when a missing female is recovered and particularly when she is found in this condition. That is why I need your permission."

"What do you mean her condition?" Jonathon was livid.

"The preliminary tox screen is still at the lab, but it's quite plain that she is under the influence of some substance or other, probably a hallucinogen of some sort. It would explain the rambling nature of what she is saying and the fact that none of it seems to reflect reality."

"Drugged?" Martha was incredulous. "Mara has been drugged?"

The doctor nodded. "I don't, personally, believe that she would have taken anything of her own volition though, with her vanishing the way she did, I suppose anything is possible. Still, I find it easier to believe that she is the victim of someone else's depravity. When she comes out of the effects we can see what she remembers, but it isn't likely that she will remember anything coherent or useful." There was a pause while the doctor consulted a chart. "I do need to ask, though, about something anomalous. There is no record in her medical history of a stab wound, but she has a bad looking scar on her right side. From the location and the probable depth of the wound she would have bled profusely, though it does seem to be healing well enough. I tried to ask her about it but she wouldn't talk to me."

Martha shook her head. "We . . . we don't know."

"Is that all?" Jonathon asked, his voice full of impatience. "I'm not going to subject my daughter to any further harm."

The doctor sighed and nodded. "Very well. I'll let you know what the tox screen picks up."

--

Mara was asleep when they returned to her room, her hand clutching Clark's as if afraid that he would leave her. Martha hurried over to reassure herself by touch that her daughter was really home while Jonathon watched from beside the door, concern and anger on his face.

Clark looked up at them. "What did they tell you?"

Martha sighed. "They said she's been drugged, or something."

Clark shook his head. "That's not possible. With her powers she could nullify any drugs used on her. She's done it before when someone tried to slip her something in a drink."

Jonathon frowned in thought. "This is Smallville. It could be anything."

"But the meteor rocks don't affect her like they do me. She's . . ." he paused, searching for words, "she's afraid and I think someone hurt her, but I don't believe she was drugged, not as the doctors would understand it, anyway."

Jonathon and Martha exchanged a speaking look. "Clark," Martha asked, "it's possible that she was on her way home to us and someone did something worse to her than just hurt her."

Clark looked at his sister's sleeping face, suddenly afraid for her. "She's never had a boyfriend, never went on a date. Some of the guys were joking about calling her the 'Ice Queen' in the locker room. That's . . . that's why they tried to slip the drugs to her. She never even let anyone take her to a dance." He sighed and looked back at his parents. "We think she's been gone for two weeks. We have no idea how long she's really been gone. And she won't tell me what happened."

--

The medical tests came back negative for anything the doctors could find, which wasn't that unusual for Smallville. They released Mara back to her family the next day and they took her home. By then Mara had stopped the active sobbing and had retreated into a silent, depressed shell.

Martha helped her get settled into her room and then was at a loss for what to do to help the daughter who was obviously hurting.

It wasn't very long at all before Mara snuck out of the house with her CD player in hand to head to the barn and the special hammock she had strung in the rafters as a private nest. She spent most of the day in the hammock, with the CD player repeating songs for hours on end.

All in all, matters in the Kent household were very tense and uncomfortable.

And as much as Mara hurt for the family she knew only loved her, she couldn't talk about the dream, or her grief for it that was reawakened every night when she slept and saw it all happen again.

* * *

Well, here's the second part of the tale. I'll get back to the world of Ivalice for the next one and from there I'm still working things out. I'm hoping to follow action and consequences fairly logically if possible, so let me know if anything seems out of place. I'm also looking forward to any sort of response to how the tale is developing. I love hearing from readers. Thank you for your time.

Mrs. Grizzley


	3. Chapter 3

Ivalice Returning: Final Fantasy XII

By Maracae Grizzley

Chapter Three

The city of Rabanastre was festival-bright and ringing with celebration as the citizens prepared to honor the first year of the young Queen's rule, the second of freedom from Archadian control. Almost unnoticed two strangers appeared in a shadowed alleyway and made their way onto the city streets. The boy gaped unashamedly at the city. The girl just sighed and shook her head at the boy.

They were young, perhaps fifteen, perhaps sixteen. He had light brown hair that was almost blond in places. She had black hair marked by bangs of solid white. They were both dressed strangely to Dalmascan eyes. The boy wore pants of a bluish color that were not hose, but which hung straight and slightly stiff. His tunic, for he did to wear the loose vest Dalmascan's preferred, was short of sleeve and, though softer in fabric than the pants, had no tailoring at all. It was white, mostly, with a strange emblem upon the front. The girl wore black. From the strange boots, to the stockings that marked diamonds on her legs, to the pleated skirt that barely reached mid-thigh, to the tunic with billowing sleeves and a ruffled collar, her clothing was completely black relieved only by the silver in her jewelry and studding the twin belts she wore.

There had never been an odder pair to walk Rabanastre's streets.

"I can't believe it! We're actually in Rabanastre!" the boy exclaimed with a laugh.

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. "Dear god, why am I saddled with this fanboy youngling?" It was a purely rhetorical question. She was saddled with him because otherwise he'd get himself killed, or that was what she always claimed.

He grinned at her, seeming unconcerned about the fact that she called him a fanboy like it was supposed to be an insult. "Don't tell me you aren't enjoying this, Claire. You don't have to be here. You volunteered to come along."

"Only because your control is still lacking. Only you would want to visit the world of a videogame."

"Hey, I offered to let you borrow my copy to play."

"No, thank you, Fanboy. I have no desire to catch your illness."

He laughed again. "Come on, maybe we can find Vaan and Penelo somewhere. Then I want to sneak into the Palace. Maybe Ashe is home. Damn, she was hot."

Clair shook her head. "Fanboy. Fanboy. Fanboy! Geez Louise, will you never learn? They don't know us here. You sneaking into the Palace to spy on the Queen is grounds for arrest, you know."

"So? She's worth it, trust me. Come on, it's not like you couldn't teleport us home again."

"And leave a story behind us like a freaking beacon for Wolf Eyes or one of his pets to follow? This is supposed to be a day trip, not a new lifetime or a bloody last stand."

He sighed then, "Alright, alright. Gosh, you are such a spoilsport, Claire. Life is supposed to be fun, you know."

"It can be, yes, and I intend to stay alive as long as possible, Daniel. As long as I possibly can." The last faded into a melancholy sigh.

He grinned at her and took off exploring and she was forced to run to catch up with him. The last thing she wanted was to lose him in the city. She had been alone too long to want to return to it.

--

Hidden to the side, unnoticed, a sky pirate pair exchanged a speaking look. "Well," Balthier murmured, "that was interesting. Though I must say that I agree with the boy's assessment of Lady Ashe."

"You would," Fran murmured back, "you've been caught how many times trying to sneak into her chambers?"

"A gentleman never kisses and tells, Fran." He looked to make certain that the two strangers were well and truly gone. "Let's get back to Marquis Ondore. It looks like we have quite a bit to report to him."

Balthier and Fran reached the Palace and were escorted in to speak with Ondore and discovered that Ashe was with him. Balthier unashamedly took advantage of the opportunity to flirt with Ashe while Ondore hid a smile behind his hand and Fran sighed and shook her head at them. Then Ondore politely asked that they get down to business.

Balthier briefly explained what they had found, blood burned into the stone atop the Pharos at Ridorana, and Ashe gasped in surprise.

"None of us were cut that badly."

Balthier nodded. "And yet the stain is there. I have seen it, touched it. Someone bled there and it wasn't one of us."

Ondore looked contemplatively at the table. "Someone none of us can remember."

Balthier looked at both of them. "There is something more. Upon arriving in Rabanastre Fran and I were privy to overhearing a most unusual conversation between two sightseers newly arrived in the city. They knew some of our party by name, including the Lady Ashe."

Ashe narrowed her eyes. "Truly?"

"Truly. The young man expressed some admiration for your person. His partner seemed much more cautious. She made mention of something which I believe bears repeating. It concerned fear of being remembered lest it allow them to be tracked."

There was silence as they considered the implications.

"But why erase the memories and leave clues as a mystery begging to be solved?" Ondore asked.

Ashe had another question, though. "If this mystery is as large as you say it can be, Uncle Halim, could it be that the tracker found this person we cannot remember?"

Neither question could be answered with what information they had.

--

Basch walked beside the lift which carried Emperor Larsa in the processional entrance to Rabanastre. The story of how the boy had fought for Dalmasca's independence and restoration had spread and while his brother had been distrusted, he was welcomed as a guest and a friend. It please him; it truly did. He just wished his sister were with him.

For his part, Basch felt tired and, yes, lonely. He did not resent his duty; he was just sick of pretending to be someone he wasn't.

It didn't help that the stone he carried above his heart was humming.

--

Claire and Daniel watched the procession. She frowned slightly as she looked at Emperor Larsa and his guardian Judge. "Daniel, who is that Knight?"

"Who?" He looked and followed her line of sight. "Oh, that one. That's Gabranth's armor so that'd be his brother, Basch. He's cool. Uber cool, in fact. Why?"

"We're sneaking into the Palace."

"Sweet! You still haven't told me why."

"He's carrying a Traveler's stone in his left front breast pocket and I want to know why and just where he got it."

Daniel turned very still at Claire's words. "Now where in the world would Basch have gotten a Traveler's stone? There aren't any Travelers in Final Fantasy XII. At least, there shouldn't be. Did we end up in an alternaverse by accident?"

Claire glared at her brother. "My control is better than that." She sighed and looked back at the procession as it trailed past them. "No, if we're here and this isn't the exact variation I aimed for, then we're here for a reason, and we aren't leaving until I find out where that stone came from."

--

It was quite a reunion when everyone was able to be in the same room, two years after the dramatic events which changed the face of Ivalice. Vaan and Penelo ran laughing up to Larsa to hug him without any regard for rank and position – and Larsa actually smiled in genuine happiness to see them. Basch was able to remove his helmet and shed his brother's name, with a sigh of relief.

Cid stood looking at Fran and Balthier for a moment in awkwardness and then quietly made long overdue apologies and began attempting to repair the relationships he had damaged. The two pirates were distrustful, but it was no less than he deserved. He would earn their trust again, that much he promised himself, and them.

Ondore called the meeting to order with an apologetic clearing of his throat. "As much as it pains me to interrupt, I have asked her Majesty to call all of you here for a matter of some importance."

That got everyone's attention. Reddas scowled slightly. "What would that be?"

Ondore sighed. "It is somewhat complicated." He turned to Larsa. "I am certain that we are all familiar with the rumors about you, your Excellency."

Larsa flushed. "I am not going mad," he exclaimed, needing, somehow, to defend himself to these people who meant the most to him.

Everyone watched them, intent on the exchange. They had all heard the rumors, had their own concerns. Ondore shook his head. "I have not said that you are, your Excellency. That is merely the tale which is told abroad."

Larsa sighed. "I am not mad."

Ondore bowed his head to the young Emperor. "I do not believe that you are, your Excellency." That brought a stunned look from the group and Ondore took the time to explain. "I am writing my memoirs and as a gift to her Majesty I am casting aside the polite fictions that have dogged the accounts thus far." Basch straightened in sudden understanding as Ondore smiled at him softly. "Yes, Captain, it is my intention to fully exonerate you of the shame you have had to bear." He sighed. "However, in my search for accuracy I have encountered . . . inconsistencies and omissions which have raised several questions I cannot answer. So I come to all of you, who walked the journey of two years past, to ask again what you remember, and what you do not."

Balthier stepped forward slightly. "Fran and I journeyed to the ruins at Ridorana. There is a stain burned into the stone there." He paused. "A blood stain."

Larsa gasped and looked over at Basch, who had paled. "My sister, in my dreams," the boy-Emperor said, "she bled there, from a wound in her side when Gabranth struck her."

Ondore continued then. "There is more. Doctor Cid lives when by all reports he should have died. None of you can recall who, precisely, struck the Sun-Cryst with the sword which destroyed it." He began looking through papers. "No one can recall just how the Order learned of the plot against the life of King Raminas. I could excuse faulty memories, but then I found this in the papers of your father, Emperor Gramis." He held a set of pages in his hands and offered them to Larsa.

Larsa held the pages in his hands, taking them from Ondore, for a long stunned moment before he started to read, his voice cracking with emotion.

_As my Nii-chan has reminded me, I have been remiss in correspondence. I wished to write to you, to let you know how I was doing, that I was well, but circumstances conspired against me. Marquis Ondore has assured me that any letters I write to you will be delivered quietly and so I find myself without excuse any longer._

_I do not know how much of what Vayne plots that you are aware of, or have approved._

_King Raminas of Dalmasca was not slain by one of his knights, but by one of the Judges of the Empire at the command of Vayne. The knight, a man whose loyalty is unbroken, was then held prisoner below Nalbina until a group of sky pirates, myself included, made our escape from there and took him with us._

Larsa fell silent, his voice unable to speak the words that Ivalice Solidor had written on fragile paper. _Father, I love him and wish your blessing should we have opportunity to wed._ The words were just too private for him to reveal so publicly. Tears fell down his face unchecked. "How can we have her letters, the events she touched, the lives she saved, and yet not remember her except for dreams?"

"I do not know, your Excellency. It is a question I am hoping to have answered this day. You still carry the stone you found?"

Larsa shook his head. "I gave it into Captain Basch's keeping."

Well, what do my readers think so far? Next chapter picks up where this one leaves off and after that I think I'll go back to Mara in Smallville for a little bit. I'm looking forward to comments.

Mrs. Grizzley


	4. Chapter 4

Ivalice Returning: Final Fantasy XII

By Maracae Grizzley

Chapter Four

There was a commotion at the door and everyone turned to look as several guards led two bound prisoners into the room. Balthier and Fran recognized the two young people they had seen earlier in town. Apparently the boy's thoughts on sneaking into the palace had won out after all. The lead guardsman turned to Ashe. "My Queen, we found these intruders as you suspected. You asked that they be brought to your presence."

Ashe nodded to the man. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

He bowed to her and started to leave as the young man softly whistled appreciatively at Ashe. "Damn, this is better than HD. I am so glad we finally came here."

Balthier chuckled behind his hand as the lieutenant reached out to cuff the young man on the back of the head. "Be polite, ruffian. This is the Queen."

Ashe shook her head. "It is well enough, Lieutenant. You can leave them with us. I highly doubt that they can do any harm with all the people we have gathered."

The lieutenant looked around and then nodded before gathering his men and leaving, but not before giving the boy a parting blow, which he managed to dodge this time, grinning all the while. When the guards were gone the young man looked around at the room while his friend sighed and looked at the ceiling in obvious unconcern for her surroundings.

"Sweet! Claire, it's Balthier! Ohh, man, this is so cool." He grinned wide at the sky pirates. "Looks like the whole group is here. So what's the occasion?"

The girl, Claire, closed her eyes and shook her head, muttering something insulting under her breath.

Ondore took a step forward. "I understand that you are visitors to this land. I wish to ask you some questions, if I might."

Claire shrugged and looked at him. "Only if I get to ask some questions in return."

The boy looked around with his face turning pale and he nudged Claire with an elbow. "Sis, I think we're in for it. That's . . ." He swallowed carefully. "That's Doctor Cid over there, and he's alive, and in the same room with everyone else." The emphasis on the word was peculiar, as if he, too, knew that Cid should have died. "And that's Reddas, and he's alive, too."

Reddas quirked an eyebrow up. "You say that as if it were unexpected, boy."

"Uhm, yeah, it is." He swallowed carefully. "You were supposed to have sacrificed your life to destroy the Sun-Cryst." He looked at his sister. "Claire, I think we're in deep kimchee."

Claire shook her head. "Careful, fanboy." She looked back at Ondore and furrowed her brow a touch in confusion. "That's strange. You've been altered. What's going on here?"

Ondore nodded. "I held to the hope that you might be able to aid us in determining just that. We have records that do not match events as they are remembered. Are you . . ." He searched for the proper way to ask the question. "Are you what is called a Traveler?"

Both young people blinked in surprise. The boy was the first to speak. "Oooh, who got here first? We haven't met anyone else since me and Jessica 'woke in the hall with Claire to help."

Claire elbowed the boy to silence him. "You're just confusing the issue, Daniel. Yes, we are Travelers. I presume you have met another of our kind, since the Knight hovering over the young Princeling over there carries a Traveler's stone in his right front breast pocket."

All eyes turned towards Basch and he reached one involuntary hand to touch his breastplate right above the pocket where he carried the stone, now humming as it had during the procession. He found his voice after a moment. "What do you know about this stone?"

Claire turned to face him and all the blood drained from her face. Her voice disappeared for a moment as her mouth worked soundlessly. "Oh dear God in Heaven. How is it possible . . ." She appeared to choke slightly on her words.

Basch returned her stare curiously, knowing somehow that something larger than him and his dreams was happening. "Is something wrong?"

Larsa looked from one to the other, his face flushing in excitement.

The girl took an involuntary step forward. "By all the names of the Mother Speaker . . ." she murmured before she firmed her expression with her resolve. "Where is she?" she cried out, running forward. "Where is she? I know why you would have hidden her, but I swear, I mean her no harm."

Vaan was confused. "She who?" No one noticed Daniel suddenly choke on a burst of laughter at the line. Speakers bless Final Fantasy and their repetitions.

There were tears flowing down Claire's face as she turned to face him. "His wife!" she sobbed. "His lifemate! The Dreamsail woman who has claimed him as her chosen mate and bound her soul to his." She turned back to Basch. "Where is she, please!"

The boy, Daniel, started forward. He wasn't laughing anymore. In fact, he seemed painfully serious. "Claire! Claire, get a grip. That's impossible. That's, like, even more impossible than Cid and Reddas still being alive. Basch fon Ronsenburg is the Knight of Knights; he's like Auron, all duty, no play. No way he'd be distracted from that duty for a romance."

Claire glared at him. "Oh, and what about Steiner and Beatrix. I may not have fallen into your fanboy obsession with Twelve, but I did play Nine. It has happened before and it has happened here. I can See the bond between them, Daniel. It's faint and something is tearing away at it, but it's still there!"

Larsa stepped forward to catch Claire's attention, taking her bound hands in his and quietly unfastening the bindings. "We do not know where she is, Milady. She has vanished and has been largely forgotten by all, except in dreams." He swallowed carefully. "Why is this matter of such importance to you?"

Claire looked at him, wonder in her eyes. "You're Dreamsail-claimed, too. Sibling-claimed, just short of your hair changing, I think." She blinked tears away. "I am Clarity Dreamsail, daughter of Bright Eyes Dreamsail, daughter of Spiritwalker Dreamsail. I thought I was the last one. I though . . . I thought Wolf Eyes had killed all the others." She blinked away more tears. "You don't know what it's like thinking you're all alone."

Daniel cleared his throat behind her. "Claire, he does know. That's . . . He's the last of his bloodline, the last of House Solidor." He took a deep breath. "But if you're saying that he's claimed like I am, then things don't look good for her."

Ondore turned to Daniel, his face somber. "Explain this to us, then."

He shrugged. "From what Claire's told me, the bigger the waves a Traveler makes in a world the more likely it is that someone is going to show up intending severe physical harm. If a Dreamsail Traveler came here, became sister to the Imperial family of Archadia, and then proceeded to have enough of an effect to save the lives of two, count 'em two, people supposed to die, then she had enough of an effect for one of those guys to track her down."

Claire shook her head. "She's not dead. She's still alive and out there somewhere. I can See the bond between them. She's still alive and we've got to find her."

Larsa nodded. "I am in complete accord. If my dreams, and the dreams of Captain von Ronsenburg, are any indication, my sister was expecting a child at the time she vanished. Is it possible to use the stone she left behind to find her again?"

Claire looked at him, her eyes wide and frightened. "She was carrying an unborn? The only way this could get worse is if Wolf Eyes himself was the one to track her down. The expectant mother is the most powerful of Travelers . . . and the most vulnerable. It's the whole reason I haven't chosen to carry a child myself, yet. I haven't found anyone who could stand protector over myself and a child."

At his side, Basch clenched a fist so hard that his hand shook. "She carried my child, and I could not protect her." The guilt was plain in his voice.

Larsa looked at him and shook his head. "Do not think that. We do not know what happened. I have not seen how we lost her in the dreams and I have been afraid to look at those events in the stone."

Claire looked at him. "You can scry events through the stone?"

He nodded. "She said that the stone would show me the truth."

"May I see this stone? I need to know what happened. Maybe . . . maybe it can give us a clue to finding a way to locate her."

Larsa looked at Basch for a long, silent moment. Basch sighed and reached under his breastplate to pull out the stone he carried there and showed it to Claire, lying flat upon his palm. Claire whistled low.

"Which Dreamsail is she? The power held in that stone . . . and it's linked directly to her soul. It's not merely a talisman, it's an actual Traveler soulstone. If Wolf Eyes or any of the hunters got their hands on it they would have a direct link to her soul and could corrupt her almost beyond redemption."

Larsa trembled. "Beyond redemption?"

Claire nodded. "It would take one of the Old Ones, or one of the Shards, to redeem one soul-lost through a stone."

Larsa shrugged. "Perhaps her own words would explain her best." He concentrated on the stone in Basch's hand and an image formed above it, like a holographic representation. It was a woman, standing facing the Occuria at Giruvegan. She was young, only slightly older than Vaan and Penelo at the time, with golden hair that was streaked by white. The image was too small to clearly see the color of her eyes.

She held one clenched fist up, shaking it at the silent statues of the Occuria. "I know what I am! I am the living avatar of the Mother Speaker! I was cut away from her like any shard of your damned Sun-Cryst. While others fought the Shade, DarKheist, I sat in a room with my friends and played a game. I was the one who decided that Guenevere would sleep. I decided that she would wake as innocent as a newborn. I decided that I would cut away a part of myself, to surrender my Name and become a Traveler. I decided that this Mother-shard would be there to guide Guenevere's innocence.

"I willingly surrendered my Name and my free will for the chance to walk in worlds I had only dreamed of. As much as I may argue with The Mother, as much as I may resent her, I cannot deny that we are the same person! I swear to you! If my Nii-chan is threatened in any way because of your vendetta, I am calling upon The Mother's power and I am destroying you!"

The image faded and Claire drew in a hissing breath. "Oh dear God in Heaven! Not just a Dreamsail, not just a Traveler, not even just another Motherborn. She's the Motherborn Shard, the last one. Not an Old One, but it doesn't really matter with her. Oh God, I thought she had gone mad and destroyed herself."

Basch interrupted Claire's hushed words. "She told me about the Madness. About how in madness she created a love and a child only to lose them when she was woken from it. She told me, if the dream really happened, about how losing them almost drove her into madness again from grief. If the dream was not a dream, if it truly happened and we just cannot remember it happening, then she thinks that the madness happened again and she is in agony right now. I cannot . . ." words failed the knight for a moment, "I cannot leave her in such pain. How do we find her again?"

Claire met his eyes and her expression firmed. "I need to know what was done to all of you that you cannot remember. Reversing that effect will help greatly. At that point . . ." she paused. "At that point we need to find a way to connect to her again. The connection between your souls is faint, though clear to me, because you have been fighting whatever is trying to sever your memories of her. Once the connection is back in place then we can go about trying to locate her."

Larsa nodded and then looked over at Ondore and Ashe. "With your agreement, then, I would like to set out on this endeavor."

Ashe looked around the room, at the nods and shrugs, and then slowly nodded. "If any of us might be of assistance, let us know at once."

Larsa bowed to her. "My thanks, Majesty."

Well, that's what I have so far. Next chapter should catch back up with Mara in Smallville, as soon as I can get it written. I'm looking for any suggestions anyone might have, as well as any comments in general. I know that someone's reading this, I just don't know who yet. How am I doing?

Mrs. Grizzley


	5. Chapter 5

Note: This chapter takes place during and around the Smallville, Season Four, episode 12, "Pariah". It's a fairly important episode for the development of the series because Chloe learns something important. If you aren't familiar with the Smallville series, this episode is gonna be spoiled, but it was broadcast four years ago, so I don't think that matters are going to be that awful.

Chapter Five

Mara knew that she'd emerged too early almost before she reached the Talon with Chloe and Lois. She tried to turn back, but the two other girls wouldn't let her. Lois insisted that she needed the fun. Chloe only hooked her arm in Mara's, offering support and a smile.

She should never have let them talk her into going to the Talon for karaoke night.

She managed to hold herself together until Clark and Alicia entered. Lois's snide comment about the Vegas incident threw her over the edge. Her own grief was still too fresh in her mind, especially since the dreams hadn't stopped once she escaped the cavern.

She turned on Lois. "You leave him alone! You are so damned frightened of the hero you see in your dreams, the hero who will never let you fall, that you lose yourself in relationships that are wrong for you. Guess what, Lois Lane? That hero will find you, and he will save you, even from yourself and your own stubborn independence. You'll have him, even if you will never be able to see him for the mask he wears for the world around us. You'll have him and . . . and I'll still be alone!" She turned and ran for the door to the alley outside, letting it slam behind her while she collapsed against the wall and cried so hard that the coughing made her throw up.

Chloe found her at that point, and saved her questions long enough to help Mara pull her hair away from her face and wipe her mouth with a handy tissue. "Are you alright?"

Mara nodded, and then shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, still catching her breath with sobs, just short of hiccups.

"You know, you just managed to reopen the book on whether or not you're a 'meteor freak'." Unspoken was the question asking whether or not she was one of those changed by the meteor storm that had made Smallville so unusual.

Mara shook her head. "No, the meteors have nothing to do with me." She sighed. "It doesn't matter what they say about me, anyway. People have been whispering about me behind my back for most of my life anyway." She didn't say just how long that life had been. She didn't think Chloe needed to be burdened by more than she already had.

"What happened to you?" Her voice was full of concern, a healthy dose of curiosity, but still, concern.

Mara shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Chloe sighed, then. "You never date. You never go out. You never even dance with anyone at the dances. And now you complain about being alone?"

Mara started crying again. "It didn't matter before." She caught her breath, but it took some effort. "Did Clark ask you to find out what happened?"

Chloe actually felt the question sting. "No, he didn't. Am I not allowed to care about my friends? Am I not allowed to simply be a listening ear?"

Mara shook her head. "I'm not an idiot, Chloe. You're a journalist, curiosity incarnate. The only one worse about needing to know all the secrets in the area is Lex and you're potentially more dangerous with it because you have the resources to out all those secrets you learn. Have you ever once been given a secret to hold, and didn't then shout it to the world?"

Chloe's hurt quickly became anger. "I would never take advantage of my friends. How can you even think that?" She stood quickly. "Fine, don't trust me. I was just trying to help." She turned and walked back into the Talon, leaving Mara to her tears and grief.

They didn't talk again all evening.

--

Several days later Mara found herself standing outside the office of the Torch, trying not to talk herself out of going in. Alicia had died, killed by another of the "meteor freaks" that infested the small town and the surrounding area. Mara knew that she had to heal the breech between herself and Chloe; she needed the female companionship. Most of all, perhaps, she needed to talk to someone.

Maybe Chloe could be trusted.

She just hoped this wasn't as big a mistake as trusting Lex.

She forced herself to enter the office and found Chloe dismantling her "Wall of Weird", sort of. "Chloe? What are you doing?"

Chloe looked at her and Mara could see the tearstreaks on her face. Goodness knew they were still on Mara's face more often than not. "What does it look like? Not that it matters."

"Of course it matters." She took Chloe's hands in her own and looked down, trying to form the words she wanted to say. "I – I wanted to apologize . . ." She looked at the article that Chloe was holding and then looked at the folder where she was putting all the articles she was taking down from the wall. "Chloe, why are you pulling down all the articles about Clark?" Chloe wouldn't meet her eyes and Mara sighed. "How did you find out?" She paused for a moment. "And what are you going to do?"

Chloe pulled her hands away and put the article in the folder, returning to her task. "I don't know what to do. Why couldn't you trust me? Why did you keep this from me all this time?"

Mara sighed and sat down on the edge of a desk. Depression was still making her very tired all the time. "Clark never . . . he never liked keeping this from anyone. Most especially he didn't like keeping this from you or Lana. Lex was a matter of mixed emotions."

"So why did he not trust me? Why did you not trust me?"

"Pete found out and keeping the secret almost took more strength than he had. He told Clark that he wished he had never been told. Clark didn't want you to regret knowing. How – how did you find out? He didn't tell you, did he?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, he didn't tell me. I found out through other sources."

Mara frowned. "It wouldn't have been Pete. He's been away a while and he would not have had any reason. The only other ones who know . . ." She paused, her eyes growing wide. "Alicia."

"It doesn't matter, Mara." Chloe interrupted her. "It just . . . doesn't matter. I know now. I just . . ." She sighed and put a bundle of cut out articles in the folder she was rapidly filling. "I won't tell anyone. I can keep the secret, you'll see."

Mara looked away from Chloe. "Thank you." Her lip trembled.

Chloe looked up at her and sighed. Yes, she was angry, but she knew that her friend was hurting. More than anything she was a friend to the Kent siblings. "That goes for you, too, Mara. If you ever choose to trust me then I will keep your secrets."

Mara laughed once, a weary sound. "Some secrets are meant to be kept. Others must be told. Clark's secret must be kept. So must mine, contrary to the fears of those around us." She looked up and met Chloe's eyes with her unnatural metallic ones. "I came here to talk to you, because I think I have to talk to someone."

Chloe set the folder down on the desk and walked over to stand beside Mara. "What is it?" she asked. "What happened?"

Tears started to silently fall down Mara's face. "I met the most wonderful man in the world. He was my Knight in Shining Armor, a true hero in the flesh. Honorable and true and faithful, he was everything I'd ever dreamed of and more. He wasn't like Clark, but he was mine."

Chloe had a bad feeling and it tightened her stomach into a nest of frozen thorns. "What happened, Mara?"

Mara closed her eyes and the tears fell faster. "I woke up. I woke up and I was alone again and trapped in a cavern that was slowly killing me day by day because a brother I could not redeem had caught me unaware and vulnerable. I managed to break out, but barely, and now I cannot stop grieving for the hero I lost because I cannot seem to stop dreaming about him."

For a moment Chloe thought she had missed something. "You're all torn up about a dream?"

Mara nodded. "Dreams have power, Chloe, a power all their own. This one will not leave me. As I dream it feels real and the grief that tears at me is real. I think . . . I think I am going mad again and Clark isn't ready to stop me from untold destruction if that were to happen."

Chloe tried to wrap her mind around what she was hearing. The fears of madness . . . Mara had no idea that she was talking to the one person in all Smallville who could understand her there. "I need you to start at the beginning, Mara."

Mara sighed. "I'm not like Clark, and I'm not a 'meteor freak' either. I'm something completely different. I'm not immortal, not like Clark is, or rather, will be one day, but I'm not the average teenager either. I've lived several hundred years all told and I went mad once." She reached out and took Chloe's hands in hers. "I went mad and should have turned into destruction incarnate, but for some reason I didn't. I thought I had found a true love. I thought we were going to have a child. The lover wasn't real. The child I carried was the creation of my own madness. I lost both when I was healed of it." She shook from holding in the sobs that threatened to overwhelm her voice. "I'm so scared, Chloe."

Chloe didn't know what to say and the only thing she thought she could do was the only thing she knew how to do. She reached her arms around Mara and just let her friend cry.

Much later, and several boxes of tissues, Mara had finally calmed down to the point that Chloe could smile and ask a question that had been bugging her. "So, what is it that you can do? Other than know more than you should about my cousin's future?"

Mara chuckled. "There's a reason I always said that Alicia was a poseur." She reached out to take hold of Chloe's hand and teleported the two of them Elsewhere. It was a small spot of light in a very dark time for her to show a friend the wonders of Traveling, and it could be wondrous indeed at times.

* * *

Well? What did you think? I'll try to get back to the world of Ivalice and the events there soon, but there may or may not be more Smallville first. I don't know yet. Original tales beckon and November (NaNoWriMo) is fast approaching.

Mrs. Grizzley


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Claire paced back and forth for a moment in thought before turning to Basch and Larsa. "How does the stone work? She would have fashioned it with the intention that you would be able to use it without having to activate it with any magical or pseudo-magical abilities."

Basch blinked for a moment and Larsa looked at the stone in his guardian's hand. "I look at the stone and think about what I want to see and the stone shows it to me, in all accuracy, both the good and the bad, the virtue and the vice. In the dream . . . when she gave me the stone, she warned me that it would be so."

Claire thought about matters for a moment. "Have you asked the stone to show you what happened to her?"

Larsa looked away for a moment before nodding very slowly. "I . . . I tried to watch, but I could not. It was . . . it was too much for me to observe, too frightening."

Daniel quietly inserted himself into the conversation. "So the stone holds memories? Kind of like Memoria from Nine?"

Claire shook herself. "That makes entirely too much sense. Do you know what abilities her child had?" Basch and Larsa shook their heads. Claire sighed. "I need to see that day. I need to see it in order to see what was done so that we might undo it, else we could bring her back to a world that cannot remember her."

Very slowly Larsa nodded. "Very well. I shall show you."

---

Larsa concentrated on the otherwise undistinguished stone in Basch's hand and in a moment it began to glow slightly and then levitated until Basch could let his hand drop. The scene unfolded from the stone to envelop them within it. Daniel whistled low. "This is better than Shinra's spheres."

Claire sighed. "Enough, fanboy. I need to pay attention."

The image cleared to show a hallway in the Palace of Dalmasca. Three figures were running – Basch, Larsa, and the woman Ivalice Goldeneyes Solidor.

"Can you teleport?" Basch asked the question in the clipped, commanding style of a soldier on a battlefield.

She shook her head. "He's blocking me somehow. I can't get us away."

"Go through the sewers and get to the crystal at Southgate. It can get you far enough away to teleport someplace safe."

"What about you?"

"I'll buy you some time to get away."

She stopped them in the hallway. "And go precisely where?" There were tears in her eyes and her voice. "I can't leave Larsa unprotected and he must be Emperor or the Empire will fall. No matter where we go we will have to come back. All he has to do is wait."

"So what choice do we have?" He asked the question angrily and then stopped suddenly as he understood. "No . . ." There was agony in his voice. "No, Ivalice. I cannot . . . Please . . ."

She raised a hand to his lips. "You must. Take Larsa. Survive. He won't kill me, though I'll probably wish he had. All I know for certain is that I will be made to forget." She untied the stone from around her forehead and laid it, ribbon and all, in his hand, closing his fingers around it. "This must not fall into his hands. It links back to Mirari. The stone I gave to Larsa is tied to him – no one can take it from his unwilling hands. When this is over, contact Ree. She can get Lys to call out the Hunt to help you or she can call her mother and the others. No matter what he does, you will be able to find a way to get me back, even if I can no longer remember the love we share." Tears coursed down her face. "I might get to learn to love you all over again." Loud sounds started reverberating down the corridor and Ivalice's voice quickened. "I need you to do something first, before you find me again. I need you to aid me in the past. I was called Maracae; it means 'Bittersweet'. I was in a fight, and losing it, and you came to my rescue like a knight in a fairy story. You gave me hope again, and taught me how to link powers and promised to always be my friend. I know it was you, though I almost completely forgot while I was trapped in the cavern." She ran her fingers through his hair for a moment with a slight smile. "I'll miss this. I never did like your brother's haircut."

The noises became louder and Larsa reached out to touch Ivalice's arm. "You cannot mean to sacrifice yourself . . ."

She nodded to him before hugging him close for a moment. "Yes, Nii-chan, I can. I promised Father that I would protect you even if it meant dying. I'm not going to die, but this is little different from the Lhusu mines." She took a trembling breath and looked at Basch. "Go now, beloved, before he catches up with us. Before he sees you and follows once he is done with me."

Basch paused only a moment longer before catching Ivalice in a crushing kiss. "I will remember. I will find you again. I swear it." There was a flare of power and he forced himself to turn and flee with Larsa as Ivalice slowly turned back to face the arrival of the one who hunted her.

She didn't have to wait long.

Claire gasped in surprise as she got a good look at the shadowy figure that walked towards Ivalice. He wore a thigh-length coat and a tall hat with dark, round lensed spectacles. "Oh, this keeps getting worse and worse. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that one came for her personally."

Balthier glanced over at Basch and Larsa. "Claire, have you seen what you need to see? Is it truly necessary to watch any more?"

Claire put a finger on the floating stone and paused the scene and then looked over at the two. "Do you need me to end this now?" Her voice betrayed genuine concern for the pale cast to Larsa's face and the stoic agony on Basch's.

Basch clenched his hands as he looked from the frozen image of Ivalice to that of Wolf Eyes Dreamsail, the one who had hurt her so badly before and who sought her life and that of the child who could very well have died before ever seeing light. "How did he enspell us all and how do I recover Ivalice and our child?"

Claire sighed. "We don't know that your daughter survived, but I saw a flash of her power."

Basch blinked his eyes in surprise. "The child . . . ? It is a girl?"

Claire nodded slowly. "Yes. There is a feminine tint to the power, though at that level of development all those not yet born are female. She is very powerful and it is a dangerous power. She gifted you with memory when you swore to remember. The blessing may have served to protect you from what was to come. To have enspelled an entire world to forget that she ever was, especially those who cared most for her, that level of power is held only by the eldest and the youngest, and Wolf Eyes, though powerful, is not a Shard or one of the Anidaweihe." She looked back at the still form of Ivalice Goldeneyes and sighed. "Wolf Eyes is a master at corruption and manipulation. His methods . . . to access the power of your lady's unborn daughter he would have been brutal."

Larsa trembled as he looked at the sister he could only remember in dreams. "I haven't watched further than this. I was too afraid of what I would see."

Basch turned to bow to the boy-Emperor. "I need to see, my Emperor. I need to see what she suffered so that I might find a way to avenge her and our child, my daughter, your niece." He closed his eyes. "I need to be able to remember her as more than just a dream that will not fade."

Penelo stepped forward to put a hand on Larsa's arm in sympathy. "We're here for you."

Larsa took her hand gratefully. "I will watch."

Claire nodded to him and then the scene began to move again. Wolf Eyes walked forward. "You have led me on a merry chase, little sister."

She glared back at him. "I am through with running from you."

He reached out quickly and caught her by the throat in a clawed grip as he began to transform into a strange wolfish creature. "I will make you beg for death."

She reached up and took hold of his bare wrist. "You first, you son of a bitch." Her hand glowed and he suddenly screamed in pain.

Daniel blinked in surprise. "What did she just do?"

Claire chuckled. "Lady Goldeneyes is a healer. One of the strongest, if I remember correctly. Easing pain and causing it are two sides of the same coin."

Basch rubbed absently at his chest. "And to think I wondered at her ability to use the gift at need."

Balthier quirked a curious eyebrow up. "And when would she have given you a taste of such an ability?"

Basch frowned and his unrepentant expression. "I would never break her confidence."

Vaan shook his head slightly. "I remember . . . She could fly." Everyone turned to look at him. "At the temple at Bur-Omisace. A seal broke and she could fly." He looked over at Larsa. "Larsa had promised to see them married when we returned with the Dynast-King's sword."

Claire quickly froze the scene of Ivalice and Wolf Eyes fighting and turned to look at Vaan. "You can remember her now?"

He slowly nodded his head. "It's . . . it's very fuzzy, but yes."

Claire looked at the stone. "The spell is breaking. The very act of replaying these memories is breaking the spell. . ." She looked at Larsa. "I'm sorry, Emperor Larsa, but I have to let this play out." She frowned. "Was Lady Goldeneyes already expecting when she created the stone?"

Larsa blinked several times and then nodded. "She had just told me that she was carrying a child when she told me where to find the stone."

After a moment Claire tilted her head back and sighed loudly. "The soulstone doesn't just link back to her. It also carries a link to the soul of her unborn daughter. The stone's the key to undoing the forgetfulness that binds your world and all of you." She reached out and started the scene again.

They watched as Wolf Eyes threw Ivalice into a wall. She crumpled to the ground clutching at her side. There was blood on her gown.

Wolf Eyes chuckled at her. "Even a wolf knows better than to fight wounded, Goldeneyes. However did you get yourself hurt that badly?"

She glared at him, breathing heavily. "I tried to stop a man from doing something stupid."

"Tell me you killed him for the affront."

"Actually, I tried to save his life. Not that you would remember the devotion family deserves from each other."

With a growl Wolf Eyes grabbed hold of Ivalice and flung her into the opposite wall. She landed badly against it and several people winced watching her. Balthier shook his head. "I wondered at the amount of blood we found at Ridorana. That must have been when she was wounded. I remember . . . she had promised to save my father's life if she could."

Doctor Cid nodded. "I remember now. She healed me."

Reddas shook his head in concentration. "She said . . . 'Fly, you fools!' before she threw the sword at the crystal."

Daniel blinked several times and then laughed out loud. "She actually quoted Gandalf? This is cool!"

"Enough, fanboy!" Claire growled at her brother, who just grinned at her ire.

"Nope, you can't use that against me anymore. Goldeneyes Dreamsail, the great Motherborn Shard, is a fangirl."

"Later, then. Something's happening." Claire turned her attention as Wolf Eyes pulled Ivalice up by a clawed grip on the front of her gown.

"I will flay you alive for a hundred years." He growled the threats through an increasingly lupine throat. "I will tear the child from your womb and make you watch me devour it for a snack. I will drive you so mad with suffering that you will beg to kill at my command, beg to serve me."

Ivalice twitched as she tried to curl protectively around her midsection when there was the sound of a shout and a child's voice wailing in fear. It was followed by an immense light. When it faded the hallway was empty.

Balthier whistled low. "Did anyone expect that?"

Claire looked at Basch. "Your daughter is powerful."

He met her gaze. "What just happened?"

"My guess is that Wolf Eyes was flung to the furthest corner of the multiverses and woke up with no knowledge of where he was or what he was doing. If we're lucky he can't even remember who he is. I have no idea where Goldeneyes would have ended up but it would have been someplace safe, relatively speaking, and your daughter is probably actively hiding them both." She sighed. "Apparently your daughter took it upon herself to save her mother."

The images folded back into the stone, which slowly drifted down to land in Larsa's hand. Larsa turned it over twice in his palm before reaching out and putting it into Basch's. "They live."

Basch nodded slowly, and then sighed. "If the damage done already did not kill our child even as she saved her mother."

Daniel, meanwhile, was doing something of a victory dance. "She's a fangirl. She's a fangirl. Do-do-do-do-do-do."

Claire twirled to face her brother with tears flowing down her face. "Will you shut up about that?!" Daniel fell still in surprise. "Can you not be serious about anything? A life hangs in limbo. I didn't see their daughter die, but do you have any idea what that kind of damage can do to someone who is at that delicate level of development? She could have miscarried within minutes of finding safety, especially if the unsubtle touch of a child erased her mother's knowledge that she was pregnant at all?"

Daniel actually looked away from her. "You're talking about Jink, aren't you? Jink's mindwipe ability. You're the one who said that Dreamsails are related to the Abodean elves."

"Yes, but it's more than that. If their daughter was like Jink, and a healer too, then she could have caused her barely formed body to be reabsorbed into her mother, but left her spirit floating around her waiting for the chance to be conceived again."

Larsa looked up at the pain that Basch was hiding behind his eyes and stepped forward, between the siblings. "Enough speculation. We need to find my sister so that she can be reunited with the ones she loves. Whatever the circumstances surrounding my niece, whatever must be done, we can face that once we have Ivalice back." With everyone now looking at him, Larsa straightened and seemed to look like the ruler he was. "Our first goal should be finding this battle that Captain Basch is needed to aid in, and seeing that he is able to do so. Then we can turn our attentions to finding whatever place of safety to which my sister was spirited away."

Claire slowly nodded. "As you wish, Emperor." She looked up at Basch. "Do you happen to remember where you stashed that stone she gave you?"

* * *

I'm sorry this took so long to update, but the story has been stuck quite firmly for a while. Guess what had me stuck. *grin* Anyway, progress is again being made and here's to hoping it continues. Lemme know what you think about the story, I could use some feedback.

Mrs. Grizzley


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